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“Peace be with you.”

these were the first words to the Catholic community & the entire world from Pope Leo XIV. at a time when so many world leaders, including the United States, call for aggression & conflict in targeting migrants, the poor, their neighbors & other marginalized groups, we need leadership – especially perhaps spiritual leadership – who are willing to stand courageously in the truth of love & speak with clarity countering the narrative of fear, indifference, violence & hate.

to see, Pope Leo XIV, who seems to carry the same spirit of openness, grace & compassion that Pope Francis embodied, choose the name Leo XIV as a nod to Leo XIII who wrote the encyclical inviting & prioritizing Catholic Social Justice teaching is incredibly encouraging. to see the College of Cardinals, by & large a conservative slow moving (in regards to progress) body choose a US born, world traveled pope in Pope Leo XIV who centers the poor, the migrant, the marginalized, seems like a strategic rebuff to the current trend towards authoritarianism & kleptocracy we are seeing in the US & elsewhere.

grateful & hopeful for Pope Leo XIV’s voice at this time. may he be blessed & protected.

may all hearts open to love, may we all drum up the courage to stand & speak for love, truth, equity, justice, & peace in this time.

~j

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#PeaceBeWithYou #PopeLeoXIV #PopeFrancis #CatholicChurch #CatholicSocialJustice #love #compassion #courage #equity #justice #peace #OpenHeart #JinpaLhaga #JMWart

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if our hearts are open, 

if we can manage to stay 

with the suffering we see,

allowing it in, so that our

compassion may be awakened,

then that compassion 

will lead us into action 

to end suffering.

~j

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#OpenHeart #BearWitness #suffering #compassion #SitDownRiseUp #MindfulResistance #JinpaLhaga

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#MayThe4thBeWithYou my friends!

there are so many brilliant #StarWars quotes regarding empire, colonialism, authoritarianism, etc. which would be appropriate right now, but Star Wars has always had a way of lifting me up, so i thought maybe it best to share a bit of hope & encouragement this day, since the forces of cruelty & destruction we are seeing & the speed of it all can feel overwhelming. the dark side may be having its moment, but it won’t last. light & love will prevail. remember you in your love are aligned with life itself. ⭕️♥️🙏🏼

“Is the dark side stronger?”

~ Luke

“No…no…no. Quicker, easier, more seductive.”

~ Yoda

“For my ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is. Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us, binds us. Luminous beings are we…”

~ Yoda

#StarWarsDay #TheLightSide #TheForce #Jedi #Yoda #JinpaLhaga #JMWart #BWphotography #PhotoArt

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we can & should stand in the space of our values & principles. abiding in tender heartedness & fierce compassion. seeing clearly with wisdom through the eyes of love.

may it be so!

~j

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#OpenHeart #love #compassion #clarity #wisdom #path #practice #MindfulResistance #JinpaLhaga

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sticking with a path & practice of love is something we recommit to everyday. living by vow, is not a one & done deal, but a moment to moment realignment with our values & our integrity of purpose, to reduce harm & bring benefit to the world around us. each moment is an opportunity to begin anew.

~j

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#BeginAnew #path #practice #vow #values #integrity #OpenHeart #love #JinpaLhaga

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We have the ability to respond 

to every situation with hope, 

with love, with kindness, with compassion. 

Or we have the ability to respond 

to every situation with anger, 

and hatred and rage and violence. 

And that choice is ours every day.

~

Jeffrey Zlotnik

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#ChooseLove #ChooseKindness #ChooseCompassion #path #practice #OpenHeart #JeffreyZlotnik #BuddhistWisdom #JinpaLhaga

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love is our work.

our work here is to continually open ourselves to love. so where our love ends, where we begin to exclude, where we begin to label “other” is where our work is.

we can begin this work by asking ourselves “why?” why do i want or feel a need to exclude? why do i want or feel a need to label something or someone as “other”? what is underneath the feeling to do so? if we are brutally honest about it, the answer is likely fear, & this is generally something that we don’t want to admit to ourselves. it takes deep vulnerability to do so and such vulnerability requires immense courage. 

if we do so, the façade, the walls that we have built up to protect ourselves, to protect what we think is true, begin to crack & crumble. we think our world will fall apart – & it will, but this is the work of love, to undo all that is not true, all that is not love. 

it is in such spaciousness that fear loses its footing. without fear, other people & forces lose their power to manipulate & control us. love is the true freedom we are seeking, it aligns us with truth, with life, & each other.

~j

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#LoveIsWork #ChooseLove #love #OpenHeart #courage #practice #SitDownRiseUp #MindfulResistance #JinpaLhaga #JMWart 

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it is in opening our heart to life 

as it is that we allow space for awareness to arise. and it is in such awareness that we begin to see reality more clearly. and from such space of clarity, we can choose how to act with love in a way that benefits the world.

~j

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#OpenHeart #love #spaciousness #awareness #clarity #RightAction #SitDownRiseUp #MindfulResistance #JinpaLhaga

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today Pope Francis, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, was laid to rest.

i’m not alone in sharing a deep affection for Pope Francis. on one hand we shared December 17th as our birthday, so that may play a part, but more than that when he chose the name Francis, after St. Francis of Assisi whom i’ve long felt a connection to since my childhood, he caught my attention. choosing Francis as his name was a deeply symbolic choice that represented not only his connection to the poor, the outcast, & nature, but also represented a needed refocus for a world obsessed with wealth, consumption, & othering.

a Papacy marked by integrity of message, a message that all are sacred & worthy of love, that all deserve dignity & inclusion especially those on the margins. even today at his funeral, the end of his procession was an honor guard made up of homeless, migrants, prisoners, & trans people. he understood that such symbolism coming from the Pope has incredible power to move people, to draw attention & move us closer to love.

Pope Francis was a voice of fierce compassion, speaking truth to power, calling all to rise to love, even imperfectly at times. without ever actually changing any Church doctrine, he pushed back on tradition that excluded, reminding all of us that “being woke” is simply being kind, inclusive, generous, empathetic, & compassionate.

i’m not alone in feeling a deep loss that a voice so sorely needed at this time, a voice that so powerfully counters the cruelty we are seeing has left us. but has he? it’s hard to believe that even death can stop such a force of love. i can only imagine he will continue the work of love from Beyond, in Catholic Christian parlance a Saint, in Buddhist parlance a Bodhisattva. the words don’t really matter, it is the movement of Love, which Pope Francis found so deeply in Christ, & embodied so well for us all, for a world in need. a movement we can continue with our own words & actions.

bows of gratitude for Pope Francis, for his life, his presence, & his service.

~j

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#PopeFrancis #Saint #Bodhisattva #OpenHeart #path #JinpaLhaga

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medicine.

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#compassion #OpenHeart #love #path #practice #MindfulResistance #ThichNhatHanh #JinpaLhaga